(CNN) -- A top drug lord has been gunned down in Mexico after two days of shootouts between armed forces and members of a criminal organization, a national security spokesman said Friday.
Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, also known as "El Chayo" or "El Doctor" was killed as part of an operation in the Mexican southwestern state of Michoacan, according to spokesman Alejandro Poire.
Poire also said that members of the federal police, army, air force and navy participated in the joint operation centered in the city of Apatzingan and the surrounding mountainous region.
Moreno was one of the main leaders and founders of the drug cartel known as "La Familia Michoacana," according to Poire.
"This drug cartel began operations under the name of 'La Empresa' (The Enterprise) around the year 2000 and has terrorized the population in Michoacan ever since, not only trafficking and producing drugs, but al